Box 025, folder 05: Daniel Noel Osborne

OSBORNE, Daniel Noel

Canadian 3rd Div.

Box 25, #5

[inserted] [?LT?] Germany [end inserted] For Cornelius Ryan Book about D-Day [inserted] GERII [end inserted] THOUSANDS OF MEN, ON LAND MID SEA AND IN THE AIR, PARTICIPATED IN THE INVASION OF NORMANDY BETWEEN MIDNIGHT JUNE 5, 1944 AND MIDNIGHT JUNE 6, 1944. IF YOU WERE ONE OF THEM, PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS. [inserted] EXT. [end inserted]

What is your full name? DANIEL NOEL OSBORNE

What was your unit and division? ROYAL WINNIPEG RIFLES 3rd CANADIAN INFANTRY DIVISION

Where did you arrive in Normandy, and at what time? BERNIERE-SUR MER (COURSOULLES) 0815 HRS 6 JUN 44

What was your rank on June 6, 1944? CAPTAIN (PROMOTED FROM LT 5 JUN 44)

What was your age on June 6, 1944? 25 YEARS.

Were you married at that time? YES

What is your wife's name? PHYLLIS AYLENE OSBORNE

Did you have any children at that time? NO

What do you do now? OFFICER IN CANADIAN REGULAR ARMY (SECOND IN COMMAND OF 2 BN QUEENS OWN RIFLES OF CANADA)

When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? WE WERE TRAINED AS ASSAULT DIVISION FOR ONE YEAR BEFORE, BUT I WAS ACTUALLY BRIEFED ON 26 MAY 44, BECAUSE OF MY LIASION DUTIES.

What was the trip like during the crossing of the Channel? Do you remember, for example, any conversations you had or how you passed the time? VERY LITTLE SLEEP. ON DECK AFTER DARK WATCHING OTHER SHIPS AND PLANES GOING OVER. THERE WAS A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF EXCITED ANTICIPATION, BUT LOTS OF THOUGHTS OF HOME, RELIGION, WHETHER LANDING WOULD BE A SUCCESS OR NOT (REMEMBERING THE CANADIAN CASUALTIES AT DIEPPE) AND A BIT OF FEAR AND APPREHENSION. MOST OF US WROTE HOME, GAVE LETTERS TO NAVY TYPES TO MAIL. I REMEMBER ROSS MUNRO , CANADIAN WAR CORRESPONDENT WITH IS, SAYING IT WAS THE GREATEST NEWS STORY SINCE COME OF CHRIST. WE WERE ALL THRILLED TO BE A PART OF IT.

What were the rumors on board the boat, ship or plane in which you made the crossing? (Some people remember scuttlebut to the effect that the Germans had poured gasoline on the water and planned to set it afire when the troops came in). OUR BIGGEST CONCERN WAS THE BEACH DEFENCES AND IF THEY WOULD BE BREACHED, AS WE WERE AMONGST THE FIRST TO TOUCH DOWN ON THE BEACH. WE HEARD THAT UNDERWATER POSTS HAD FRENCH 75mm SHELLS ON THEM TO BLOW UP OUR LANDING CRAFT (PARTIALLY TRUE) WHEN STRUCK.

- for Cornelius Ryan 2Your name DANIEL NOEL OSBORNE

Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? YES, BUT HAD TO QUIT AFTER ABOUT THREE DAYS

Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? YES MANY.

Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties? NOTHING REALLY RELATIVE

Were you wounded? NO

Do you remember what it was like--that is, do you remember whether you felt any pain or were you so surprised that you felt nothing? NO

Do you remember seeing- or bearing anything that seems funny now, even though it did not, of course, seem amusing at the time? IT WAS CHOPPY IN THE WATER. ONE OF THE LADS, BOARDING THE ASSAULT LANDING CRAFT FROM THE MOTHER SHIP, MISSED AND GOT DUNKED.

OUR CRAFT STUCK ON A POST IN THE WATER [inserted] IN [end inserted] ABOUT 8FT OF WATER, WE WERE TERRIFIED, BEING UNDER FIRE. A CHAP FROM THE LANDING PARTY SEMPHORED FROM THE BEACH THAT WE SHOULD RAM AHEAD, AS THIS SPOT HAD BEEN CLEARED BY FROGMEN. AFTERWARDS WE FOUND OUT IT HAD NOT BEEN CLEARED.

Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, which struct you more than anything else? I WILL NEVER FORGET THE TRAGEDY OF SEEING SO MANY OF OUR MEN DEAD AND BOBBING IN THE, WATER THEIR MAE WEST'S INFLATED. CANADIAN TANK CREWS RISKING THEIR LIVES BY LEAVING THEIR TANKS TO PULL CANADIAN INFANTRY (DEAD) FROM BEACH EXITS, SO AS NOT TO RUN OVER THEM. EVERYONE WAS A HERO THAT DAY.

- for Cornelius Ryan 3 -

Your name DANIEL NOEL OSBORNE

In times of great crisis, people generally show either great ingenuity or self-reliance; others do incredibly stupid things. Do you remember any examples of either? A FRENCH GIRL THREW A FLOWER OUT A WINDOW IN A TOWN CALLED BENY-SUR MER. I WAS LEADING SOME MEN DOWN THE STREET, AND ALL I SAW WAS THE WHITE MOVEMENT OUT OF THE CORNER OF MY EYE. WE ALL DOVED FOR THE GROUND AND FELT SILLY AFTERWARDS.

Where were you at midnight on June 5. 1944? CROSSING THE CHANNEL ON [crossed out][illegible][end crossed out] LSI.

Where were you at midnight on June 6, 1944? BETWEEN BENY SUR MER AND ROTS, JUST OFF THE CAEN-BAYEUX ROAD.

Do you know of anybody else who landed within those 24 hours (midnight June 5 to midnight June 6) as infantry, glider or airborne troops, or who took part in the air and sea operations, whom we should write to? I CAN PROVIDE THE NAMES OF MANY CANADIANS AFTER I LOCATE THEIR ADDRESSES. THERE ARE 4 OTHERS IN MY BATTALION IN GERMANY WHO LANDED ON D DAY.

PLEASE LET US HAVE THIS QUESTIONNAIRE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, SO THAT WE CAN INCLUDE YOUR EXPERIENCES IN THE BOOK. WE HOPE THAT YOU WILL CONTINUE YOUR STORY ON SEPARATE SHEETS IF WE HAVE HOT LEFT SUFFICIENT ROOM, FULL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT WILL BE GIVEN IE A CHAPTER CALLED "WHERE THEY ARE NOW; YOUR NAME AND VOCATION OR OCCUPATION WILL BE LISTED.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP.

Cornelius Ryan

Frances Ward Research, The Reader's Digest

30 Apr 58 In The Field

Miss Frances Ward Readers Digest 230 Park Ave New York, NY.

Dear Miss Ward: You will pardon the lack of a typewriter, but we are at present on maneuvers and such niceties are nonexistant. I noticed the attached clipping in The American Weekend, and while I am probably in too remote an area to be interviewed, thought I should let you know of my existance. I am at present Second in Command of 2 Battalion, Queens Own Rifles of Canada serving with 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade Group in HEMER, WESTFALEN, Germany. In June, 1944, howeverm I was serving with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles in the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, and landed with them at 0750 hrs, 6 Jun 44, on the Canadian beach at Berniere sur Mer,